


Thy Will Be Done

by Achika



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, POV Outsider, Religious Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-14
Updated: 2013-10-14
Packaged: 2017-12-29 09:19:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1003690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Achika/pseuds/Achika
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is a church in the middle of Red Hood's territory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thy Will Be Done

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the fact that Jason is a catholic priest in Flashpoint.

There’s a church in Gotham’s slums, old and kind of dilapidated with rain worn gargoyles that were perhaps even more intimidating now than when first carved.  The priest did his best to keep the place up but it was hard when the surrounding area was in constant turmoil. One Sunday morning there was a new face in the small group of regulars, a young man who sat in the back awkwardly but knew all the hymns and prayers and when to stand.

“Hello, son. I’m Father Jacobs. It’s nice to see new faces,” Father Jacobs said after mass, managing to catch him before he left.

“Jay,” he said, shaking Father Jacobs’ hand.

“What brings you to our humble church, Jay?” Father Jacobs asked.

Jay shrugged, fidgeting. “My mom was into this stuff, before she died,”

Father Jacobs gave the boy – he wasn’t even old enough to drink legally, Father Jacobs thought, and probably only barely able to vote– a sympathetic smile. There was more to the story, obviously, but Father Jacobs wouldn’t pry.

“Well, you’re always welcome here, child. We’re going to have a barbeque the last Friday of the month, consider yourself invited,”

Jay smiled, just a slight quirk of the lip, and gave a short laugh. “Sure thing, Padre,”

Not long after that, the Red Hood started making waves and managed to carve out a good chunk of territory that happened to include Our Lady of Solace.   

“My mom,” Jay said one day, frowning. Jay’s been coming weekly since his first visit almost six months ago. Not always Sundays, and not always the morning mass, but he’s always there eventually. “She really believed there was a God, and he was looking out for us and had a Plan-With-A-Capital-P,”

“And you disagreed?” Father Jacobs asked, curious.

“At the time? Fu- _heck_ yeah,” Jay snorted “The life we lived? The stuff I had to do just to eat? I didn’t think any God would do that so someone. Then my mom died and I _knew_ there wasn’t a God.  And then I met someone who changed my life. All I could hear was my mom saying ‘Jay, God has a plan for everyone,’ and I _knew_ that God was real and He’d led me to that moment,”

Jay stopped talking. His voice was bitter and hurt.

“But now you’re unsure again,” Father Jacobs said.

“What was the _point_?” Jay asked, anger exploding out of him. “If what I thought was the Plan wasn’t the Plan, then _why bother_?”

Father Jacobs sighed. Poor child was clearly deeply troubled by this, and probably hadn’t spoken to anyone else about it ever before. “I’m sorry, Jay. Unfortunately I know just as much of the Divine Plan as you do. All we can do is have Faith that it will all turn out alright in the end,”

“Yeah, well, that didn’t work out so well the last time,” Jay said, fingers twitching for the cigarettes that Father Jacobs knew he smoked.

Father Jacobs didn’t know what had happened to Jay to cause him such bitterness, he just hoped that maybe the little church in the slums was helping even a little.


End file.
